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‘A great day’: House votes to put Indigenous Peoples Day on Columbus Day

In this file photo, the Git-Hoan Dancers of Metlakatla give their take on snapping selfies during a performance for Celebration 2016 at Centennial Hall. Celebration is a biennial festival that celebrates Alaska Native culture and the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian peoples. (Michale Penn | Juneau Empire File)

The Alaska House of Representatives has approved a bill recognizing Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples Day.

House Bill 78 was approved in a 31-7 vote Friday morning.

The vote places the holiday “on the same day that indigenous people discovered Christopher Columbus,” said bill sponsor Rep. Dean Westlake, D-Kotzebue, to general laughter Friday.

“It’s a great day to be indigenous,” he said.

Columbus Day is a federal holiday but not a state holiday — state workers are at their jobs on the second Monday in October.

HB 78 now advances to the Senate. If the measure is approved there, it would remain largely ceremonial. State workers would not have the day off.

Rauscher, speaking Friday afternoon, said his vote against the bill was an attempt to avoid “years or decades of contention” about the meaning of the day. He said he wanted Alaska Natives and indigenous people to have their own day of “joy and celebration” undimmed by arguments.